Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	sin_n	will_n	1,909	5	6.8826	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09253	A sermon of the prouidence of God Preached at Paules Crosse, the 25. of October. 1607. By Iohn Pelling Bacchalaur of Diuinitie.	Pelling, John, 1561 or 2-1621.	1607 (1607)	STC 19567; ESTC S114107	26,712	54

done this or that was ill done vbi est laus dei perdisti Halleluiah where is thy praising the Lord thou hast lost thy Hallettuah thy praising the Lord. To this purpose very diuinely one of the most godly and learned of all the fathers S. Augustine vpon the 148. Psalme By this we may perceiue that euen the smallest creatures in their kind magnifie their Creator that that which seemes to the ignorant and inconsiderat needlesse and vnprofitable is indeed necessarie and beneficiall And besides that when God by any meanes taketh away our prouision heer it is to weane vs hence or to chastice vs with want for abusing plentie with warre for abusing peace with sicknesse and weaknesse for abusing health and strength with false friends for abusing true friends with vnkindnesse where we loue well for our ingratitude to him that loueth vs better with crossings in our businesse for our negligence in his seruice and ye any of these or all these are but gentle and louing corrections to his children for their amendment but with the gracelesse and impenitent it is not so let them ruffle it neuer so much for a while bewate their end plague vpon plague remaines for them which they shall not be able to auoide for God faileth not in his vncontrouleable prouidence to see them payd that they haue deserued This perplexed Dauid at the heart as we may read in his 73. Psalme when he saith My feete were almost goue my treadtings had well nigh slipt and why I was grieued at the wicked I do also see the vngodly in such prosperitie and I said then haue I clensed my heart in vaine and washed my hands in innocencie all the day long haue I beene punished and chastened euery morning Yea I had almost said euen as they then should I haue condemned the generation of Gods children then thought I to vnderstand this but it was too hard for me vntill I went into the sanctuarie of God there vnderstood I the end of these men namely how thou doest set them in slipperie places and castest them downe and destroyest them O how suddenly do they consume perish come to a fearfull end That which Dauid learned in Gods sanctuarie that he teacheth vs in this Psalme It is worth the remembring and applying by your selues We read in Genesis a notable worke of Gods prouidence in Ioseph how God brought him to great honor and conforted him on euery side how God prouided him to prouide for old Iacob and all his The meanes vsed were some very meane some very vnlikely and some almost impossible yet all in Gods order direct and by his power effectuall-Who would haue thought that of a boy keeping sheepe in Chanaan one should come to be the chiefest man vnder the King in Aegypt that a dreame or two a thousand to one but so many idle fansies should import and presage matter of such weight consequence and state that brethrens hatred should be the way to brethrens loue that to be bought and solde as a bondslaue into a strange Country to be cast and kept in prison as a malefactor should be the way to libertie to more then libertie to a place of highest honour in the Court in all the Kingdome So God wrought it and ordered it for Ioseph And touching Adams fall and so touching any actual sinne there is Actio and there is Prauitas actionis the action it selfe is not sinne God is the author of the action the deformitie or iniquitie of the action that 's sinne and that God is no author of The godly learned illustrate this familiarly thus The rider causeth the horse to go the horse goeth lame that he goeth the rider is the cause that he goeth deformedly lame that 's of the horse and not of the rider The soule of a man is it that causeth the body to moue The body hath receiued some wound or festers with some old sore it moues it moues deformedly lamely the motion is of the quickning soule the lamenesse is of the wounded or corrupt body But touching the sinne is God no way the author of it No way in the world as it is sinne For first to be able to sinne argues impotency which cannot be found in omnipotencie and to cause to sinne is to bring forth more properly a defect then an effect But God hardened Pharaohs heart not by making it hard that was not but by denying him grace to mollifie his heart which God is not bound to giue him nor any man But answer the Prophets words in the 3. of Amos Shall there be euill in a citie and the Lord hath not done it I answer that this is meant of Malum paenae not culpae of punishments which are iust and which God iustly inflicteth vpon sinners to their smart and griefe not of any euill that is of any offense or fault that God commits or causes any to commit What was Absoloms in cest It was both a sinne and a punishmènt a sinne in Absolom a punishment to Dauid the punishment was iust and of God the incest sinfull shamefull that was Absoloms Take with you this rule in our learning in diuinitie which is a sound rule in this case Cum eiusdem effectus plures sunt causae aliae bonae aliae malae effectus ille respectu bonarum causarum bonus est respectu vitiosarum malus Admit there concurre diuerse causes to one effect that effect in respect of good causes shall be a good effect in respect of vitious causes euill But God at least permitteth sinne as it is sinne or he doth not permit it If he permit it not how can it be If he permit it either he doth it with or against his will If against his will how then is God omnipotent that he cannot stop it If with his will how then is God all goodnesse that he will not stop it If it be neither with nor against his will but that he lets things go neuer heeding them off or on where is his prouidence that workes so carefully and so effectually in all I answer First that Gods will is considered as it is sometimes occulta secret sometimes as it is manifesta reueiled alwayes as it is iusta iust Secondly that sinnes are not measured by the secret will of God at all but by his reueiled will which is his lawe and therfore though we graunt a permission in Gods secret wil of that which is sinne yet God in that willes nothing as sinne for as nothing can be done against his secret will so no sinne is measured by it and therefore nothing is to be called sinne with respect vnto it This beeing certaine then still I say that sinne as it is sinne is not of God But how can any thing be against Gods reuealed will and not bee against his secret will they beeing one as they are diuersly considered to be secret and to be a reuealed are diuerse considerations in one the selfe same respect nothing